Galaxies | Cato Hadley

Chapter Two

- 4 Months Later -

AN ORDER TO FIND KATNISS EVERDEEN HAD BEEN ANNOUNCED AT 4 AM AND WREN WANTED NOTHING MORE THAN TO SLEEP. She, Cato, and Marvel were searching the halls for the Mockingjay. Wren wiped her eyes as she yawned.

"Oh no," Marvel whined, "if you yawn then I'll-," he yawned, "y-yawn. Dammit."

Wren shot him a half-awake smile. "Sorry."

Cato shook his head at the two before holding up the flashlight higher. He pointed at a door to the left for Marvel to check.

The hallway was long, dark, and ominous. The three slowly crept down, opening each door they came across, and peeked in for Katniss. Marvel would complain every time they chose the wrong door and Wren would roll her eyes.

The three came across another steel door and Cato turned the handle. The door opened with ease. It's creak echoed in their ears.

A small figure was curled up into a ball in the far right corner of the storage closet. Movement was detected. Katniss was rocking back and forth on her heels in a crouched position.

"M-My name is Katniss Everdeen. I'm from District Twelve. I survived the Hunger Games twice. P-Peeta didn't make it out," she mumbled to herself. "My name is Katniss Everdeen. I'm from District Twelve-"

"Katniss it's time to go," Cato said as he lowered his weapon.

"Just five more minutes, please. I-I had a nightmare," Katniss begged.

Wren felt her heart go out to the girl. Katniss had been through as much as anyone and the nightmares were tough.

"We get them too," Marvel bent down to be on Katniss's level. "We know it's hard. They can help you sleep."

"I don't want help sleeping," Katniss said quickly. "I just don't want to go back to that room. I want to see my sister."

"Tomorrow," Wren told her with an encouraging tone. "You can see your sister tomorrow, but first you need rest."

"That's all I've been doing for the past four months, Wren. We need to go save Peeta. We need to do something," Katniss ranted.

Cato inhaled. "We're working on it, but as Wren said, you need rest first."

Katniss wiped away the lone tear and stood up. She felt her lip tremble as she followed the three older District Thirteen members.

Wren slowed her pace to be in line with Katniss. She lightly nudged her shoulder to grab her attention. "The nightmares don't go away, but sometimes you can pull yourself out of them."

"You can?" Katniss asked.

The group stopped in front of Katniss's room.

"Count your fingers, once you see ten, wiggle your toes and say 'I want to wake up.' It usually helps me realize I'm in a dream. Ten fingers and ten toes mean you're real. More than that, it's a dream."

Katniss looked down at her fingers. Ten fingers. She wiggled her toes. Ten toes. Real.

"S-So I can see Prim in the morning?"

"Yeah," Marvel said while opening the door. "I can send her in after breakfast."

Katniss smiled. She would finally get to see Prim.

Once Katniss was in her room and the door shut, Marvel headed back to his room to see Glimmer and Wren followed Cato back to theirs.

As Cato unlocked their door he spoke, "I don't think she'll be doing that anymore now."